It’s a cover-up, Yogi govt hiding actual stampede toll: Congress

The last rites of many of the victims were not performed as per their religious beliefs, he added. “Some bodies were thrown into the Ganga, some were picked up by bulldozers, some were cremated anonymously in electric crematoriums while some bodies are still lying in garbage heaps. This is the height of insensitivity,” Rai said.

Referring to the death of sub-inspector Anjani Kumar Rai, the Congress leader claimed that the officer, a resident of Ghazipur, “died while performing his duty during the stampede that day”.

“The chaos was such that even this brave policeman did not get an ambulance on time. And the irony is that the government is not even ready to accept that Anjani Kumar Rai died in the stampede,” he said, adding that talking to his family members revealed the “inhuman face” of the Uttar Pradesh government, and how the ambulance to carry Anjani Rai’s body was made available only after a long wait of 11 hours.

The Congress leader also claimed that as soon as his plan to visit the house of Anjani Kumar Rai was decided, the Kumbh Mela Police wrote a post on X, claiming that Anjani Kumar Rai was not on duty at a crowded place.

However, Ajay Rai claimed that no government representative visited Anjani Rai’s house, “nor did they accept his martyrdom”. “After I went to his house on February 5 to meet his family, the next day, Ghazipur’s police captain reached Anjani Rai’s residence. The Yogi government is making every effort to hide its incompetence,” Ajay Rai said. Referring to the recent deportation of Indian immigrants from the US, Ajay Rai said the whole world saw a “shameful picture”.